What blooms in the Desert
by OlivettiMachine
Summary: The 4th Shinobi war is over. Temari and Shikamaru are struggling to go back to normal life after the devastating war. A diplomatic visit to Konoha is the chance to take a step forward on their friendship. Shikatema. Post-War. Complete.


**Disclaimer:** _I don't own Naruto or any character appearing in the series. I don't own a Garden Center or similar either._

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 **What blooms in the Desert**

The 4th Shinobi War had ended about a month ago. All the villages and countries were being rebuilt, families were grieving their losses, and all the alliances between the countries were being reinforced, all of them working in the same direction: to make sure peace was on top of their priorities.

Being the ambassadors from Suna, Kankuro and Temari were visiting Konoha. After all, the alliance between Konoha and Suna had been valuable during the war and the deep bond between Gaara and Naruto was essential to make sure the alliance would last for a long time. Also, new "alliances" were growing between Suna and Konoha. Kankuro took the chance to visit Sakura and thank her again for saving his life, a while ago in Suna, when he was poisoned by Sasori. Kankuro had a huge amount of respect for Sakura, maybe you could say, in a way, he was in love with her, but if he was, he never told her, he was not stupid and he soon realized the only man in Sakura's heart was Sasuke Uchiha. He was back in Konoha after the war (always promising he would leave to travel the world as soon as he was fully recovered) and in the two weeks Kankuro was in Suna he saw, a couple of times, the two members of team seven taking a walk or talking like old friends (well, Sakura did most of the talk while Sasuke listened, but Sasuke even slightly smiled one or twice, which was a huge step for the Uchiha). Kankuro was sure he had no chances in winning Sakura's heart but there was no reason for them for not being friends.

On the other hand, there were Temari and Shikamaru. From the first time they fought each other during the _chunnin_ exams a long time ago, Temari always felt a kind of excitement every time she knew she had to go to Konoha for a diplomatic mission (knowing that probably Shikamaru would be her escort during the visit) and Shikamaru often found himself thinking about her, while daydreaming looking at the clouds lying on the grass. This time had been no different than the others. Shikamaru was assigned as Temari's escort and they spent a lot of time together during the diplomatic visit. But the other times, they had a great time teasing each other (with Temari always telling Shikamaru he was a _lazy ass_ and Shikamaru replying she was so _troublesome_ ) and now they spent most of the time in an awakard silence. Shikamaru was sad after the loss of his dad during the War, and she was pretty aware. She would have gave anything to make him feel better, but she had no clue on what to say or what to do to help him.

On the last day of their visit, Temari was waiting patiently at the door of the bedroom Tsunade offered her in the Hokage Tower. Every other time she visited Konoha, Shikamaru picked her there and walked her to the Gates of the Village to wave her goodbye. Suddenly Kankuro walked towards her.

"He's not coming, sis. I'm sorry. But you have to understand what he's been going through." Kankuro stated, patting his sister's shoulder in order to cheer her up.

"I know." she replied "I understand. Let's go."

Temari and Kankuro walked across Konoha towards the main Gate. When they arrived there, Temari suddenly stopped.

"Kankuro, can you wait for me? An hour tops." she asked.

"Yes. Sure. Where are you going?"

"There's something I need to do. Don't move."

"Don't be so bossy, Sis." Kankuro yelled "Poor Shikamaru…" he smirked.

Temari ran as fast as she could towards Konoha's cemetery where he found Shikamaru standing in front of Shikaku's graveyard.

"Shikamaru…" she said softly.

He turned his head and saw Temari standing right next to him "Temari… What are you doing here?"

She observed his face. His eyes were slightly red and it was pretty obvious he had been crying. She felt her heart flinch in sorrow and a painful knot in her stomach. "I…" she started "I guessed…I knew, you'd be here. I…"

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I wanted to say goodbye." she managed to smile. "Usually, you.. you walk me to the Gates and wave me goodbye."

"Yes. I know… Uhmm… sorry about that. About not picking you up today. I was not in the mood."

"That's okay."

"And I'm sorry about these past few days too. I know I've been a lame company, and I'm sorry." he apologized.

"You don't need to apologize at all." she replied. She felt the urgent need to touch him, to comfort him somehow, but she remained still. "I understand what you are going through. I do. If there was anything I could…. I… I want to go back to normal. I want to feel normal again. We've been through a lot, we had to carry a lot of things upon our shoulders… I just want everything to be normal again. That's why I wanted to say goodbye to you before leaving. Because visiting Konoha and teasing you, and calling you lazy ass is somehow normal, and that's exactly what I need now." Suddenly she felt stupid and completely inappropriate. What the hell was she trying to say? How was she asking him to pretend nothing happened? She wanted to hit herself on the face for being so stupid and selfish.

"I promise things will be _normal_ next time we see each other. I'll do my best." he tried.

There was an awkward silence between them.

"You are a terrible liar, Skihamaru Nara." She smirked.

"Ahh… I know. Being a good liar means thinking a lot and you know I'm a lazy ass" he smirked and she punched him on the side with her elbow. " The truth is.. I don't know how to go back to normal again. I can't plan the next step, the next move. I have no idea. My father was…" he felt his voice trembling and suddenly Temari's hand reached for his and her fingers entwined with his own.

"I know…" she replied. His hand was warm and soft, and somehow they were comforting each other and Temari felt the knot in her stomach slowly untangling. Temari stared Shikamaru in the eyes and smiled softly "You don't know this about me but… I like to observe plants and.."

"You like what?" he laughed. The first time he laughed in days. It felt like breaking a wall.

"Shut up, Nara" She grunted." I'm trying to have a moment here. The point is… We have a lot of different specimens of plants in Suna, you know?. Weird desert plants. But we have no flowers. There are no flowers in the desert. But sometimes… not very often I must say… once in a while, a flower blooms. A flower in the desert. Beautiful, tiny flowers. Maybe…maybe you feel like you are in the desert right now, but I promise someday a flower will bloom. You'll find a flower. You just have to take the time to learn to watch."

He caressed her hand with his thumb softly and mumbled "Thank you, Temari."

They remained in silence for a couple of minutes.

"I…I have to leave…Kankuro is waiting for me." she stated.

"Yeah…I understand. Let's go." he replied. They walked together for a couple of minutes, side by side, in silence. Suddenly they stopped and they were in front of each other.

"Well…" she took a step back " I guess I will see you eventually…"

"Yeah…I guess…" he added. She smiled again and he felt a sudden warm in his broken heart. "Oh Kami, why do you have to be so/"

In what it seemed a millisecond she stepped forward and pressed her lips upon his own. The first impact was kind of rough but soon she softened the pressure and he fit his lips with hers. He placed his hand on her waist and she placed hers on his neck. The kiss was slow, and soft, and quite tentative and it only lasted for a few seconds but when they broke the contact they were both blushing.

"Troublesome…I know." she ended his previous statement and walked away waving her hand.

Shikamaru stood there standing still, blushing, feeling his heart racing and thinking that maybe she was right and sometimes, flowers bloom in the desert.

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A month later, Temari received a roll from Konoha. In the roll, carefully placed there was a beautiful small flower. She smiled holding the flower and read the roll:

 _"_ _I've been daydreaming a lot observing the clouds. You know me, I'm a lazy ass. But I just wanted to tell you I think I might found my flower in the desert. Will you ever visit and try to be normal again with me?"_

Oh Kami… how the hell was she supposed to tell Gaara and Kankuro she was moving to Konoha?

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The next time Temari and Shikamaru visited together Shikaku's graveyard, two years had passed since their first kiss. They wanted to introduce Shikadai to his grandad. The small Nara was sleeping peacefully in his mom's arms. He was three months old and was the most quiet child you've ever seen.

"Dad…" Shikamaru started "I want to introduce you to my son. Your grandson. He's now my new king. Our new king."

"He's a sweet quiet boy. He looks just like his dad." Temari added "I know you are probably freaking out right now, not believing your lazy-as-hell son has been able to move his ass to make an actual child, but the truth is/ " she started laughing.

"Hey… please Temari, I'm trying to have a moment here. Could you stop talking to my dad about my sex life?"

"Ok. Sorry." she apologized.

"Plus, I don't remember you complaining at all." he smirked.

"Boy, sometimes you are really/" she started rolling her eyes but he kissed her softly on the lips. The small Shikadai Nara opened his eyes and pouted. "Troublesome." Temari and Shikamaru said at the same time.

The couple walked home hand in hand with their precious child in his dad's arms. Temari took a deep breath and thought how easily she got used to those moments. How normal it was for her to walk hand in hand with her husband, to wake up at night to calm their child, to wake in the morning with Shikamaru holding her in his arms, to tease him until he almost got angry and then kiss him 'til they ended laughing like idiots. To be in love in times of peace, it was easy. It was normal. And she stared at her husband with her child in his arms and smiled widely. She was right, they were the living proof, sometimes beautiful things bloom in the desert.

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 **A/N:**

 _This story was a request I got so... spilihp17, This one is for you! Hope you like it! Shikatema time! - ok, just a tiny bit of Sasusaku in the beginning, I honestly don't know how it happened ;) -_

 _It's my first Shikatema story, don't be too hard on me :) There's no need (or it is, actually) to say that English is not my native language, please forgive my mistakes._

 _It will be very nice to read your reviews and comments. I'm always very happy to hear from you._

 _Best wishes for this new year 2016 to all my readers, to the super cool people: Lady Rini, Twiggysyndrome, Aliciadiez3 and spiliph17 , and specially all the coolest vibes to Waterlilly333, probably the nicest person I met in 2015. Willing for our talks to continue on 2016!_

 _Stay tuned!_


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